


When You Move, I'm Moved

by sugahearts



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Figure Skater Choi Beomgyu, Ice Skating, Injury, Kang Taehyun is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, Rivals to Lovers, Winter Olympics, World Figure Skating Championships, emotional tension, figure skater kang taehyun, figure skating, they're in Canada for this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28537071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugahearts/pseuds/sugahearts
Summary: Olympic season was starting and Taehyun, a young skater who made a name for himself after being a two-time world champion at the age of nineteen, was ready to debut in a larger scale. But another gold-favorite and his ever-present rival, Beomgyu, wasn’t going to cut him some slack and might be the biggest hurdle Taehyun has to overcome to get that golden medallion. Along the way, he finds out more about himself and his love for figure skating.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 17
Kudos: 126





	1. Icarus to Your Certainty

**Author's Note:**

> IMAGINE TAEHYUN SKATING TO THE INSTRUMENTAL OF THE ORCHESTRAL VERSION OF BLACK SWAN. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzIcbD5aMFw) This version of Taehyun was loosely (and I mean loosely) based on Yuzuru Hanyu, particularly the signature moves. I love that boy so much – the artistry, the drama, and the passion he has for skating is just magnificent. Anyways, enjoy!

Taehyun would be a liar if he said training in a foreign country, with a foreign team, and with foreign coaches was easy. He understood them very well, but he couldn't properly convey his message apart from a few broken sentences in English when he first started with them.

On some days, the language barrier was tolerable — a few yes and no questions here and there, people getting his point mostly from his hand gestures, and having little to no interaction with anybody in general. Though, on other days, the frustration of wanting to be fully understood by those around you was starting to get on Taehyun's nerves.

Nevertheless, no pain and no struggle can ever compare to the same silent euphoria he feels whenever he sets foot on the ice.

The intoxicating feeling of gently gliding on the ice as if you were weightless and getting lost to the music that would play through the speakers drove him to a sort of trance. Every beat of the song, every breath that Taehyun takes is simply used to give the best performance people will ever see in their lives. That was his goal every time — to perform with the joy he felt like a kid competing for the first time and the passion of a retiring skater performing for the last time. He will be a perfectionist no matter how much he plays it off so seamlessly when he competes.

Perhaps, his thirst for doing more with what he loves is what the judges saw in him for the past two years and what earned him the highest spot on the podium as well. Truly, it was his dream to be standing among the best of the best and to make his fans and his country proud. In those long blissful moments of a medal around his neck, a bouquet of fresh flowers in his hands, and the cameras flashing in every direction, the pain of leaving his home and his family behind to pursue his wishes were all worth it.

But with all the prestige and all the hardships he had to go through, of course, there was still something nagging at him to do better. And that something for Taehyun was the clumsy brown-haired boy currently talking to his coach.

“Ah, Taehyun! We were just talking about you!” Coach Yeonjun said once he saw Taehyun approaching the pair. “Who knew we’d run into Beomgyu today?” he added in disbelief. Taehyun merely gave a nod in response, more curious over the reason why Beomgyu was even here in Toronto when he was supposedly training somewhere in California.

“Why are you here?” Taehyun asked impassively in Korean.

“Why else would I have come? I came here to see you,” Beomgyu answered him back smoothly in Korean too, as if he were anticipating for Taehyun to ask him that.

Taehyun tried his best not to roll his eyes. “I have no time to play your childish games today. Stay for all I care, just don’t bother me while I skate,” he turns his attention back onto Coach Yeonjun and says in English, “I will go on the rink now.”

He turned away from the two without waiting for a response, a little surprised that Beomgyu didn’t call after him with one of his usual quips like _“You’re so cold!”_ or _“No wonder you’re called the Ice Prince!”_

The day was only starting to get more peculiar. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Beomgyu had actually listened to his words and stayed on the sidelines beside his mentor. Taehyun quickly snapped his full focus back into the task at hand. After the usual warm-ups and skating around the rink twice or thrice, he started trying his jumps. The quads were something he feared as a child, especially after seeing his old teammate suffer horrible injuries attempting it. Now, he does them until his calves ached.

Reserving the true power of his jumps, he takes his starting position in the middle of the rink to signal Coach Yeonjun that he was ready. Standing still, he could feel his heart beating faster than usual, although he simply brushed it off as nervousness. After all, the choreography he was about to do was only finalized a few days ago.

 _‘Are you sure about that?’_ an inkling in his head whispered right before the music started. Ignoring the thought, he started with the first part of his step sequence.

If language had given Taehyun difficulty, skating had never failed to convey his message. Never.

Even if jumps often garner the greatest number of points in a program, Taehyun never forgets to amplify the artistry. What’s the use of doing amazing jumps when you’re going to execute them all sloppy? Figure skating is an art form, like how a painter perfectly calculates each stroke he takes on a canvas or how a poet describes the most beautiful imagery with the right words.

The athleticism behind figure skating does not equal the death of artistry.

For this program, Taehyun wanted to tell a story of a black swan fallen from grace – beaten and bruised, the black swan is an artist slowly falling out of love with his passion and is trying to find his way to fly again into liking his dream. There are slow parts wherein he showcased his flexibility in Beillmann spins, twizzles, and elegant spirals. The fast-paced portions were reserved for rapid movement and powerful leaps.

One of his signature moves was doing a layback Ina Bauer and moving into a one-handed hydroblade where he touches the ice with a gloved hand as he stares into the judge’s eyes (or in this case, the story he was telling was simply for Coach Yeonjun and Beomgyu to witness.) Taehyun couldn’t help doing it. He had a knack for the dramatic.

Unlike other skaters who think of reaching the end of their performance, Taehyun never wants the music to stop. Like the swan he is embodying, he wants to keep flying and never have to come back down.

Sneaking in an extra jump in the last portion of the program, he was ending it with a fast-paced spin and finally going back to the middle with his hands wide in the air – the dying swan now resurrected and liberated from the chains of mourning for his lost passion.

Taehyun was panting by the end of his performance, listening to the echoing claps from his two spectators. He skates towards the entrance of the rink where Coach Yeonjun awaits Taehyun, beaming at him. He takes the water bottle in his coach’s hand and gulped it down, immediately heading towards the camera filming his entire practice run but he stops in his path once he sees Beomgyu reviewing the footage himself.

“What are you doing with that?” Taehyun rasped out, throat still a little dry from the cold.

“Absolutely stunning, Taehyun," he said, completely ignoring Taehyun's question. "You only committed probably two or three mistakes, but besides that, you were…” Beomgyu looked directly at him. “Beautiful.”

Taehyun didn’t know what exactly caught him off-guard first – was it the way Beomgyu looked at him or the sudden sincerity in the way he was praised? Either of the two, Taehyun suddenly felt lightheaded and was thankful that Coach Yeonjun immediately swooped into the conversation.

He patted Taehyun on the back and said, “Splendid work as always. Let’s work a little more on the landings because you went a little shaky on those. Oh, and before I forget, I have news for you. Beomgyu, would you like to be the one to tell him?”

Taehyun immediately furrowed his eyebrows, now slightly concerned about what they were about to tell him. To Taehyun, anything about Beomgyu meant disaster for him.

“From this point forward, Coach Yeonjun is my coach too! We’ll be on the same team!” said Beomgyu with a grin.

Taehyun was taken aback, looking back and forth between the two. “Why?” was all his mouth blurted out while his brain tried to process the information.

Beomgyu blinked, the smile dropping from his face. Clearly, it wasn’t the response he wanted to hear. Coach Yeonjun reflected the same amount of unease in his expression. Figure skaters just couldn’t seem to hide their emotions from showing up on their faces.

“What do you mean why? This is good! You can both take this as an opportunity to learn from each other. Two world-class athletes inside this building, imagine the progress the three of us can achieve.” Coach Yeonjun got between the two of them and put his two arms on their shoulders. “I’m excited about this!”

Neither of the two returned the sentiment.

* * *

Taehyun didn’t like being around Beomgyu. He felt uneasy whenever they were next to each other and annoyed when the other boy would speak to him.

 _‘But why do you hate him so much?’_ chimed in the voice inside his head. Taehyun hated those intrusive trains of thoughts too. The voice got bolder and was surfacing more frequently after Beomgyu started training with him. When he was skating on the ice, he used to empty his mind to pay attention to the present moment and to no longer be Kang Taehyun but instead be the character he needed to be. However, it was getting harder and harder lately to distance himself from Kang Taehyun when he sees Beomgyu gawking at him from the sidelines, the unexplainable frustration he felt towards the boy bubbling up out of nowhere.

Today wasn’t any different, except for the fact that he was going to watch Beomgyu practice his program today. He never does that due to some irrational part of him wanting to leave the vicinity and to head for the locker room before he could ever watch Beomgyu practice his whole program. However, Coach Yeonjun insisted that he stayed to watch Beomgyu skate for today. Reluctantly, he obeyed his mentor.

No matter how much he disliked the other boy, Taehyun would not deny the fact that Beomgyu was talented, a complete natural on the ice. Where he lacked in power, he made up for his grace and complex step sequence. He could spin in both directions with the same speed and had the right facial expressions to draw in the audience. It could be possible that anger is not what Taehyun felt towards him, he pondered.

Instead, maybe it was jealousy and fear – fear that maybe Beomgyu would best him one day.

Taehyun hadn’t met a formidable opponent like Beomgyu before. Yes, those who came after him in the World Championships or the Grand Prix were some of the best in the world, but seeing Beomgyu now, the sheer potential he had on his two skates, could practically change the whole playing field. Not to mention, he was almost always second after Taehyun even in their junior division days, if only Beomgyu wasn’t so prone to injury.

Pushing his spiraling apprehensions down for the meantime, he went back to observing Beomgyu skating and noticed that he was looking at Taehyun an awful lot.

Oddly enough, Taehyun couldn’t look away either.

When Beomgyu finished, Coach Yeonjun was quick to applaud and went to the entrance to hand him a bottle of water. Taehyun was a bit delayed, too stunned by the performance he had witnessed. Beomgyu approached him with a smirk, but it had no malice behind it.

“What do you think?” he asked out of breath, taking a seat beside Taehyun.

“You did great, as usual. Though, I noticed you took off on the wrong edge for the triple axel and slightly lost momentum in one of your spins.”

Beomgyu’s smirk grew even more mischievous and the amusement in his eyes became apparent. “I’ll let you in on a secret,” he says in a quiet voice and leaned in closer to Taehyun. “I did it on purpose.”

Taehyun’s tilted his head to one side in confusion. “Why? You could have gotten a perfect program.”

Beomgyu laughed, his smirk disappearing and replacing it with one of his charming smiles. “Where’s the fun in perfection? Besides, I wanted to know if you were truly watching me and I wasn’t imagining you looking my way for once.”

Before Taehyun could think of how to respond, Beomgyu was already walking away towards the camera to replay his performance.

There it was again, the feeling in his gut and the lightheadedness. He hated it.

“Nice job, Beomgyu! We’ll work on your jumps tomorrow morning. I’d recommend you take those leg stretches I told you about seriously,” Coach Yeonjun says after they review the footage. “Y’know, we haven’t gone out all season this year. How about after you two boys freshen up let’s head out to eat somewhere. My treat! How’s that sound?”

Beomgyu claps his hand in eagerness while Taehyun immediately went to the locker room without sparing a word. Doing a quick shower, Taehyun didn’t want to stay in such a suffocating room with the person he least tolerated. They didn’t speak a single word to each other and got out of the ice arena where Coach Yeonjun was waiting in his car. Taehyun was about to reach for the front passenger seat door when he noticed Beomgyu doing the same and smoothly redirected himself to the back.

“I’ve texted both your parents about our whereabouts. We’ll be eating in a diner near here. Taehyun and the rest of the team went out to eat there last summer. Hope you love milkshakes and chicken,” the coach remarked to Beomgyu.

“After eating multiple cups of noodles in California, I’m up for anything at this point,” Beomgyu replied in English. That was another thing Beomgyu had that Taehyun didn’t possess – the ability to surpass the language barrier.

As the two chatted away in the front, Taehyun popped his earphones in both his ears and listened to his program’s music while picturing the choreography in his head.

If he wasn’t so preoccupied with his studies, Taehyun’s life was only about figure skating. Most of the friends he’s met were his teammates and the opportunities he’s opened for himself all centered back to skating. The ice rink was his second home, despite the qualms his parents had brought up against his dream. He was going to pursue it no matter what – if not for himself, then he’d do it for his older sister. The sister who made it possible to be in Toronto and who made Taehyun a known name in the sport. He’d do it for her.

Taehyun easily recognized the turns the car took and shut his music off. _Cruisin’_ was the place to be in post-training. The food was immaculate and the staff was the kindest people on the planet.

The owner, Carolyn, recognized the two and told the staff in the back their orders while she politely greets the new addition in their trio. Beomgyu, the charmer that he was, had no problem getting along with her. Taehyun simply tsked and sat in their usual booth near the windows.

“I’ll use the washroom. Be right back. Don’t try to kill each other before I come back, okay?” Coach Yeonjun joked before disappearing from Taehyun’s line of sight. A few seconds later, he’s joined by Beomgyu who sat beside him despite the empty seat on the other side of the booth.

“Are you always this moody or do you really just really hate me?” Beomgyu starts, facing Taehyun and resting his face on the palm of his hand.

“Are you always this annoying or do you just like annoying me specifically?” Taehyun raised an eyebrow at him. Beomgyu tried his best not to laugh but eventually laughed fully.

“And if I said it was the latter?”

Taehyun looked away from Beomgyu and looked out the window. “Getting on my nerves won’t make me dislike you any less.”

“I know, but I can’t help it when you look so cute whenever I tease you.”

Taehyun might actually go against the wishes of his coach and fight Beomgyu right there and then. Fortunately, Beomgyu’s life was saved by the food arriving.

“You ordered a chocolate milkshake? I didn’t think you’d be the type of person to want sweet things,” Beomgyu said, taking a bite of fries from the Poutine he ordered.

“What type of guy did you think I was?” Taehyun doesn’t know what made him answer back, but he can’t take his words back anymore,

“Well, I thought you were the all-business ‘black coffee’ kind of guy. The ones who drink it without a single drop of sugar or something and never smiles.”

Taehyun scoffed, taking a sip from the saccharine drink. He also wished he was that kind of guy. Sadly, he simply wasn’t that kind of person, especially not when he has this voice nagging at him once in a while. He suspects it’s his conscience, but Taehyun could never really tell. He hated introspection. It made him overthink – distracting him from performing in his top shape.

Coach Yeonjun returned from the washroom not long after the food came. Taehyun didn’t bother engaging himself in the conversation the two were having with each other.

 _‘He thought you were cute?’_ the inkling echoed in his head.

There was a sudden rush of blood to Taehyun’s cheeks. The chills from the cold have been pretty bad lately.

* * *

Six months before the Winter Olympics, Taehyun had tried to attempt a quadruple jump on the ice.

Typically, quadruple jumps were nothing new to him, but on this specific day, it was different. Rather than landing it perfectly or a small tumble and fall to the ground, Taehyun was rushed to the Emergency Room.

 _‘Why?’_ is all Taehyun murmured, holding his ankle in pain as they drove to the hospital. He had been asking that question a bunch of times in the past months for varying situations. Like, why had Beomgyu joined his team? Why should he go out to eat when he could use that time to practice? Why of all times had he failed to land a quadruple jump?

A few days and a few treatments later, he was asking the same question when he saw Beomgyu open his bedroom door. With him, he brought a bunch of drinks in a cup holder. Concern looked foreign on Beomgyu’s facial features, mainly because he consistently had a smile. Taehyun internally groaned at the sight of him.

“Have you come to tease me?” Taehyun said feigning excitement.

Beomgyu shook his head and sat on the chair beside his bed. “Of course not. I came to check up on you.” He hands Taehyun one of the cups which was cold to the touch. “Coach said you liked sweet drinks so I brought you a Frappuccino.”

“Did you put something in these?” Taehyun replied cynically.

Beomgyu laughed his comment off and said, “Do you want me to?”

Taehyun didn’t answer, he just got a straw and started drinking the coffee. It was nice to get a taste of the outside world and the familiarity of the cold due to the ice in the drink. After being holed up in his room for almost two weeks, he badly needed it. There was comfortable silence with them for a while, before Beomgyu spoke up.

“I wished the rest of the team wasn’t on break so I could meet them. Besides the Hockey team that practices right after us, the arena’s been quiet. How did you cope with the silence before I joined?”

“I’m not you. I don’t need anybody else to figure skate.”

Beomgyu sighed. “Said like a true Ice Prince.”

The voice in Taehyun’s head was going full-on hysteric. He doesn’t try to understand it for now and pushed it back down.

“Y’know, when I said that I came to see you when I first arrived in Toronto, I wasn’t totally lying.” Beomgyu takes a sip of his own drink and looks around at Taehyun’s room as if he were trying to figure out Taehyun through the objects he could see.

“Why?” There it was again, Taehyun thought. The stupid question that’s been repeating.

“Ever since we were juniors, I’ve looked up to you. You’re a year younger than me, but you’ve always been more serious about this sport than I was. When I was healing from my own injuries last year, I saw you do quadruple jumps in the Worlds like it was no one’s business, I wanted to do that too once I recovered. So, I sought after your trainer and here I am.” Beomgyu stopped looking around and intently looked at Taehyun. “What do you think?”

Taehyun was speechless at Beomgyu’s confession. _‘He looked up to me?’_

“Beomgyu, maybe you should rethink looking up to me,” Taehyun said, eyes darting away from Beomgyu’s gaze.

“Why should I?”

Taehyun gulped. “How I’ve been treating you is a reason enough.”

“No,” Beomgyu said.

Taehyun lifted his head, meeting Beomgyu's eyes. “No? What do you mean no?”

Beomgyu’s smile, which has been missing since he arrived, appeared once more. “I can see right through people, Taehyun. I can see through your whole façade too.” He held Taehyun’s hand. God, why was his hand so cold, Beomgyu thinks. “You don’t have to keep pushing people away anymore. You don’t have to be perfect with me.”

Taehyun pulled his hand away, ears reddening. “And if I don’t want to?”

“Then that’s fine with me. I’ll always still look up to you.”

The genuineness in his words was the last straw for Taehyun as he finally understood what the voice had been screaming at him the moment Beomgyu had arrived in the arena and why he couldn’t seem to get the brown-haired boy off his mind.

Now, he just didn’t know what to do with it. He had never felt this way and it terrified him.

Beomgyu might have sensed something had shifted in Taehyun. “Would you like me to go?”

“I…” Taehyun looked down at the drink he held on his lap. What was he supposed to say?

But Beomgyu, the understanding person he was, didn’t need Taehyun to speak to know what exactly he meant. He got up and gave a gentle pat on Taehyun’s head. “Get well soon. I’ll see you again when you get back from South Korea.”

Taehyun watched as Beomgyu walked out of his room and suddenly he understood why Beomgyu found the silence unsettling.


	2. Be Still My Foolish Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taehyun comes back from South Korea and he's slowly coming to terms about how he feels about Beomgyu.

After almost three months of painkillers, having his parents at home with him, and not being able to walk long distances, Taehyun was now allowed by doctors to walk on crutches unassisted. Immediately, he wanted to go back to his figure skating life in Canada.

Thus, while he packed his bags with his sister’s help, she looked at him in a fond way.

“You love figure skating _that_ much, hm?” she asked. Taehyun nodded without any hesitation. She gave him a sly look. “No, no, I’m positive something’s different about you going to back to Canada this time.”

Taehyun suspects his ears had turned red because his sister was laughing at him.

“ _No way_. Did you meet someone? Come on, you can tell me!” She excitedly sits beside him on the bed. “I haven’t really spoken to you while you were here. Work is a bummer.”

Taehyun wasn’t even sure himself. After Beomgyu’s visit to his apartment that day, the inkling in his head had cleared up some things.

“I did meet someone,” Taehyun answered which made his sister squeal.

“Do I know this person?”

“I think you do?”

She lightly slapped him on the shoulder. “Tell me!”

If Taehyun said his name, it meant he was finally admitting the reality of the situation to himself. And if he did, he’d be as free as the black swan in the end of his program. So, regardless of the alarm bells going off in his head, he told her.

“Do you remember Choi Beomgyu?”

His sister’s eyes widened, mouth agape. “ _The_ Choi Beomgyu? The one everyone calls your rival?”

“Uh, yes?”

She went nuts at the confirmation. “My little ice prince of a brother likes his rival!” she said loudly. She held her brother’s face in her hands in such a way that made him feel like a child again. “You’re a world-class figure skater who’s won medals, has fans, is about to compete in the Olympics, and is in love with his rival — Taehyun, your life is a movie and I’m glad to be able to watch it.”

Taehyun felt himself smiling, the biggest he’s ever done in a long time, and pulled her into a tight embrace. “None of my dreams would have been possible without you, Noona. Thank you.”

She sniffled. “Don’t say things like that! You’re going to make me cry.” She wiped faked tears and pulled away. “But I’ll hold onto my tears, I'm saving it for when you win the Olympics. So, let’s pack up quick. You have to wake up early tomorrow!”

And as the night came and his sister had left to head back to her own home, Taehyun was now alone with his thoughts. He could barely sleep.

He didn’t even realize that he had fallen asleep until he heard his annoying alarm go off. He moved as quickly as he could with a healing ankle and got in his parents’ car that drove him to the airport.

He left South Korea at 10AM and was going to spend eleven hours in a cramped seat. There were some who recognized him and were still respectful towards him compared to last year’s competition season where he was mobbed by people. Thank goodness for that. Now, all he had to worry about was what he was going to do once he got back.

Going through all the nitty gritty procedures once he landed, he moved towards the familiar gates. He had called Coach Yeonjun to pick him up and he was preparing to see him at the usual pick-up spot.

But when he got there, it wasn’t Coach Yeonjun waiting for him.

“Beomgyu?" he said. "I thought I called Coach to pick me up?” Taehyun tried his best not to stutter. He hadn’t seen him in all those painful months, not even a single call. Beomgyu was even more beautiful than the last time they had talked to each other.

“I know. You called him during practice yesterday and I overheard,” he said. Beomgyu nervously laughed, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I know we're not exactly on friendly terms. Maybe I should have just let Coach-“

“No!” Taehyun exclaimed too quickly that it surprised Beomgyu, even Taehyun himself. He took a shaky breath. “It’s okay. I like… I like that you’re here.”

Beomgyu seemed to have been caught off-guard by what he said because there was a slight interval in the way he offered to help Taehyun with his bags.

“Since when did you get a car?” Taehyun asked when he got inside and saw that Beomgyu would be the one driving.

“This isn’t mine. It’s one of my dad’s. He let me borrow it a week ago and brought it here to Canada.”

Beomgyu opened the radio to some Classical Music station. It was calming.

“How’s your leg?” Beomgyu broke the silence.

“Not my leg.”

“Oh, right, the ankle,” Beomgyu corrected himself.

Taehyun pressed his head against the glass and stared at the scenery of Toronto. “Doing better. I won’t be able to practice on the ice yet. The doctors said I’d need two to three more months to fully recover.”

Beomgyu momentarily looked at Taehyun and flashed him a smirk. “I can tell you’re not going to follow them.”

“What made you say that?”

“Because you’re Kang Taehyun. Broken ankle or not, figure skating is your life. Your only problem now is if Coach would allow you anywhere _near_ the ice at all.”

“Will you help me convince him?”

“You want my help? I thought you didn’t need anyone else to figure skate.”

He unusually missed the teasing part within their dynamic. “So, will you help me or not?”

“Definitely. I thought you’d never ask.”

The only sound after that came from the radio, but Taehyun didn't like the silence anymore. No, not when Beomgyu made him realize how lonely he was in the quiet.

"Beomgyu?" Taehyun starts, the other boy replying with a hum. "I never really got to say sorry about how I treated you."

"Oh, that? You don't have to apologize."

"No, I do. When I came to Canada, I wanted to be accepted by my teammates too. But when you joined, all I did was be a jerk to you. For all it's worth, I'm sorry."

By chance, they had been stopped at a red light which allowed Beomgyu to face him. He was looking at Taehyun like he was trying to crack a cipher. "You really have changed in those past three months," he said wistfully, brushing away a stray piece of Taehyun's hair from his forehead. "Is it really you or is it the painkillers talking?"

Taehyun couldn't stop himself from laughing this time. That was such a Beomgyu thing to ask, what else was he expecting? And when he turns to see the look of bewilderment in Beomgyu's face, it made him laugh even harder.

"Yo, I'm serious. What did they _feed_ you in South Korea?" Beomgyu said before continuing to drive. "I'll forgive you on one condition: You laugh more. It makes you look cuter and live longer."

Taehyun rolled his eyes but accepted the terms. Maybe being friends with Beomgyu wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Exhaustion was starting to seep in their bones as Taehyun and Beomgyu practiced for the Winter Olympics. They only had a month left until the said event would happen. Their three-hour practices had turned into four and Coach Yeonjun had been treating them out to food more often. With longer hours of practice, it also meant that the two skaters got to spend a lot of their time learning about each other.

Taehyun learned that Beomgyu had a habit of forgetting important things like his gloves, his skating shoes, and one time, he even forgot a portion of his program’s choreography. Lucky for him, Taehyun had memorized the whole thing while he observed from the sidelines. Once the crutches were off, Taehyun didn’t care about the pain – he went on the ice and did half of Beomgyu’s program.

“You memorized it by simply _watching_ me?” Beomgyu said, skating alongside Taehyun. “I’m really flattered that you watch me so intently.”

If they weren’t in the middle of practicing their program, Taehyun would have pushed him off the ice when they passed the entrance. The reason why they were even on the rink together was because Coach Yeonjun said they were invited to perform in the exhibition gala.

As a pair skate.

 _Ingenious, right?_ Coach Yeonjun said.

 _T_ _he people would go wild to see the two rivals skating together,_ he said.

Taehyun doesn’t know if the universe just likes playing with him or if they’re gracing him with the opportunity to be closer to Beomgyu.

Nonetheless, being this close with Beomgyu made their contrast in skating more obvious. Taehyun was all about beauty in doing things perfectly while Beomgyu saw beauty in the small mistakes he commited. Though, the choreographer pulled a miracle off and made a simple choreography that would appeal to both their styles.

They had tried to make either one of them do lifts but Taehyun's ankle wasn’t having any of that and Beomgyu wasn’t really known for his strength. They immediately toppled over each other during their initial attempt. Thankfully, the lifts were removed and were replaced by dynamic twizzles and a step sequence that made Beomgyu shut down momentarily trying to memorize it.

Despite the outward difference between them, they did agree on one thing – their love for figure skating. The smile on their faces when they hear the music start was evidence enough that no matter how much Taehyun finds his partner’s teasing annoying or no matter how many times Beomgyu forgets his shoes or gloves – they, without fail, would come back to skating.

And that’s the story of the program they planned to do in the exhibition gala: Two rivals who appear to have nothing in common join together in a dance to celebrate the art of figure skating. It was fun, it was liberating, and it made Taehyun’s appreciation towards Beomgyu increase.

Next thing you know, Taehyun was falling harder for Beomgyu each time they skated. In tandem, Taehyun felt like they were unstoppable.

When the day of the Olympics arrived, Taehyun was calmer than usual about the competition. He got the pain relievers for his ankle, his tailored costume had fit him perfectly, and he’s been conditioning himself for it non-stop. What _does_ get him nervous was seeing Beomgyu walking towards him in his own attire. The dark blues complimented his hair which he dyed jet black a week ago and every time he moved, the glitter in his make-up gave him a sort of allure.

“Are you that charmed to see me?” Beomgyu joked, giving him a gentle bump on the shoulder.

Taehyun averted his attention to the current figure skater. He’d look anywhere else _but_ Beomgyu. “I heard you were performing last,” he said, attempting to change the subject.

“That’s right. They really wanted to save the best for last.”

Taehyun stifled a laugh. “You’ll be having extra pressure on you then, especially since Coach said I’m the one skating before you.”

“Pfft, I watch you skate your program daily. Seeing you now doesn’t get me anxious.”

Their conversation gets temporarily cut by the audience cheering for the participant.

When the noise calmed down, Beomgyu says, “After the next guy, you’re up next. How’s your leg?”

“I swear, you’re just messing with me at this point.”

Beomgyu gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I meant your _ankle._ ”

He slowly shifted his weight between his feet. He felt the injury but it was only small pinpricks compared to how it felt earlier in the day. “It feels better. The organizers allowed me to take pain relievers.”

Beomgyu nodded and they both went back to watching the next competitor.

Towards the end of the figure skater’s program, Taehyun didn’t notice that he was really immersed in the performance until he felt Beomgyu’s hand reach out for his. Taehyun hesitated to glimpse at their intertwined hands and merely squeezed back.

“Before you skate, I just wanted to say: don’t sweat it too much. There is beauty in even your imperfections,” Beomgyu remarked. The people cheered as the skater they were watching exited the rink. Taehyun stopped holding onto Beomgyu to take his jacket off and walked to the rink’s entrance.

“Wish me luck,” Taehyun said to his coach and Beomgyu who were near the barrier.

“Both you and I know who already won,” Beomgyu reassured him.

Taehyun smiled and said, “You?” before giving one last fleeting squeeze to Beomgyu’s hand that was resting on the barrier and moving towards the center of the rink.

Today, he was going to make his mark on the world again. He will no longer be Kang Taehyun, but the black swan who, like Taehyun, was injured and beaten. Now, he’s healed (almost) and living life to the fullest with the sport he loves and-

Taehyun glanced at Beomgyu before the music played. After this, he swears he’s going to tell Beomgyu what the voice had been urging him to say. If he does, then he’ll probably get to live with someone he loves as well.

As easy as singing the alphabet, Taehyun executed the program with ease. Swallowing away the worry he feels before he takes off for a jump, he lands them all perfectly. On some parts, he even closes his eyes to feel the music, to forget the crowd.

He glides through the ice effortlessly like a swan peacefully wading in a pond.

It was exhilarating from start to finish. The audience might have felt the same adrenaline rush he was feeling too because the arena was filled with applause louder than what the previous skaters had received. He bowed low in every direction, trying his best to hold back tears.

When he skated back to the opening of the rink, he hugs Beomgyu who had been waiting with open arms. He didn’t care about the cameras at this point.

“You’ll beat me. I know you will. You always do,” Taehyun whispered which made Beomgyu release a soft laugh. Beomgyu tightens the hug even more until they had to pull away so Beomgyu can walk near the rink.

Coach Yeonjun and Taehyun sat beside each other as Taehyun’s standing was announced. He couldn’t help but feel giddy when he saw that he was currently first place. His tense muscles relaxed and he released a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Once that was done, Coach Yeonjun quickly ran to the barrier to help Beomgyu prepare. Taehyun wanted to join him but his legs had refused to follow what he ordered them to do. The fatigue he was trying to outrun was starting to catch up to him. Nevertheless, he was still going to watch from the sidelines.

The persona given to Beomgyu in this program was being Eros himself — the Greek god of affection, love, and attraction. It was a befitting role for Beomgyu considering who he was, or at least, who Beomgyu was for Taehyun.

His choreography is filled with spontaneous elements that would captivate the audience’s attention, creating a sort of mystery surrounding the deity. Love is, after all, unpredictable and hard to understand. The smirks, the winks, the cunning smiles – Beomgyu does them all naturally. 

The crowd was in awe as a peculiar hush filled the arena. At last, the world got to see the same kind of greatness Taehyun is lucky enough to behold every day.

For the finishing move, he does his third triple axel and did his own signature spin. The spectators cheered loudly even before the music had stopped completely and his fans dropped stuffed toys resembling Beomgyu’s parrot named Toto.

Taehyun willed himself to get up in order to embrace Beomgyu. However, Beomgyu was faster and basically crashed onto him.

“Thank you,” Beomgyu said, head resting onto Taehyun’s shoulder.

“For what?” Taehyun replied, a bit dazed.

“For being the only thing on my mind while I skated.”

“Really?” Taehyun asked, voice cracking a little.

They separated from each other, Beomgyu sitting in-between Taehyun and Coach Yeonjun. “Of course. I also kind of insulted you in my head. _Slightly_.”

Taehyun tiredly punched Beomgyu. “If it got you through your program, that’s fine with me. Right now, we just have to wait for the score.”

Beomgyu clung onto Taehyun and Coach Yeonjun, eagerly looking up at the overhead monitor that showed the scores. More than two minutes had passed and it was revealed:

Beomgyu had surpassed Taehyun’s score by .11 in presentation.

The three of them almost fell off the bench in joy. Coach Yeonjun had started crying as he held both his skaters. Taehyun can’t imagine how proud his coach must be to have two of his students as the victors of the most prestigious event. Their moment was cut short when Coach Yeonjun’s phone had started to ring.

“Oh, Taehyun it’s your sister,” he says, handing the phone to him. Taehyun took the phone and excused himself in a quiet place.

When he accepted the call, he heard people screaming in joy.

“Taehyun, Taehyun! We saw you skate! And we saw your boyfriend skate! I am so proud of the both of you for winning silver and gold!” his sister says.

Taehyun sniffled before saying, “Thank you for supporting me from all the way there. Also, Beomgyu isn’t my boyfriend.”

“Yet!” she added, making the both of them chuckle.

She had a point, Taehyun supposed. Tonight, in the celebratory party, he was going to take the hardest leap he had ever done in his life.

* * *

“You were out here this whole time? I was looking for you in the party,” Beomgyu said, closing the terrace doors.

“Sorry. Parties aren’t really… my thing,” Taehyun admitted. “That’s why I got outside to take a break.”

That was only a half-truth. Before he even got to the party, Taehyun’s gut had been doing it’s own skating program inside him. Ironically, it wasn’t competing in the Olympics that shook his resolve, it was trying to find all the right words to say to Beomgyu.

“Congratulations on your win, by the way. You bested me this year,” Taehyun starts casually.

“Thanks. You’ll beat me in the next one, I’m sure of it. If your ankle hadn’t been injured-“

“It wouldn’t have changed a thing,” Taehyun finished Beomgyu’s sentence for him. “I said you’d beat me and you did. If there was one person in the world I wouldn’t mind losing to…”

Taehyun wavered. Was it too much? Too soon to say?

“Who? Come on, finish your sentence,” Beomgyu says with a hint of amusement. He had moved closer to Taehyun that their shoulders were touching.

None of the Olympic calming methods are going to work for Taehyun’s racing heart at this point. It was now or never.

“I wouldn’t mind losing to you,” Taehyun said quietly.

Beomgyu chuckled and moved Taehyun so they were directly facing each other. “You used to hate losing.”

“Yeah, and I used to hate you too.”

“Used to? Are you saying you don’t hate me anymore?”

“That’s what ‘used to’ implies, idiot.” Taehyun only calls him that when he finds himself being extra fond of Beomgyu.

“If you don’t hate me, what _do_ you feel about me now?”

Beomgyu is such a tease. Was he trying to get Taehyun to open up about everything in his life?

“At first, I thought that what I was feeling towards you was jealouy or hate,” Taehyun said. “Then, I realized that I was frustrated because I like you and I couldn’t properly explain myself… Well, I actually like you more than ‘like’ but I’m just too scared to use the other word.”

Beomgyu was about to say something but Taehyun cuts him off, saying, “It’s okay if you don’t like me back. I just wanted to get it off my chest.”

He received an incredibly confused look from Beomgyu. “Are you kidding?!" he exclaimed, "You keep referring to me as an idiot when you’re the one who thinks I don’t like you back!”

Taehyun’s brain short- circuited. “Wait, you like me back?”

“You have got to be the densest person on Earth,” Beomgyu commented, releasing a sigh. “Why do you think I like teasing you? Being around you? Skating with you? Sure, I love skating, but I also love doing all those things because I love you, Kang Taehyun. I just never thought you would like me back, since you keep pushing everyone away.”

The buzz of the city and the wind blowing at them filled the lack of noise between the two boys. Taehyun opened his mouth a few times to say something – still, nothing came out.

“I’m guessing you didn’t see that coming?” Beomgyu asked, holding onto both of Taehyun’s hands with his own and gently stroking the back of them with his thumbs. Warmth bloomed in Taehyun’s chest.

“I thought you were just being nice,” Taehyun replied.

“Casual flirting is being nice?”

“To be fair, you’re charming to everyone.”

They were subconsciously moving closer and closer to each other, the universe willing everything to fall in it’s right place. Beomgyu released one of Taehyun’s hands in favor of holding onto Taehyun’s cheek.

For a split-second, Beomgyu’s gaze dropped to his lips and that was all the sign Taehyun needed before he closed the space that separated them.

Taehyun doesn't know if he was even allowed to say this, but kissing Beomgyu made him feel better than any performance he had ever done. The natural high of just being held by Beomgyu was making him weak in the knees and numbed the dull pain of his ankle.

 _Maybe this was his new addiction,_ he thought. He could stay in this moment forever.

When they split from the kiss, their foreheads were still connected, both smiling at what had happened.

“What if I kissed you too in the middle of our program tomorrow?” Beomgyu goaded.

Taehyun threw him an empty glare. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“And if I did?”

Taehyun leaning into another kiss was an answer enough. _How could he ever say no to Choi Beomgyu?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I hope you all liked that! This was partly fueled by me watching that time when they were cuddling each other on V Live. Again, I wish you all the best this new year!


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